Reading Night World with the Daybreaks
by NightCalling
Summary: One day Poppy is at the store when she notices three books, she picks them up after reading the back and taks it back to the mansion for everyone to read who each of the couples met
1. Chapter 1

_So I'm writing these in the order of my favorite of them to the least which means they are going to be out of order. _

_~VampireLuver_

When the all the daybreakers got to the main den there were three big books sitting on the table and Poppy next to them.

"I found these. They sound like our stories so I picked them up." She said pointing at them, "Who wants to read them with me?"

Everyone agreed and sat down in various spots next to their soulmates.

Poppy picked them up and started reading. "**Vampires, werewolves, witches, and shapeshifters—they live among us without our knowledge. Night World is their secret society, a secret society with very strict rules. And falling in love breaks all the laws of the Night World."**

"How does someone know about our world?" asked Jade where she was sitting on the floor next to Mark her hair in her face.

No one could answer the question. They were all thinking the same thing.

"**In **_**Dark Angel**_**, Gillian is saved from drowning by her guardian angel.**

Jill looked down, missing Angel.

**Only visible to Gillian. Angel will fulfill her heart's every desire. But when Angel starts to making strange and sinister requests, Gillian must question who he truly is and where he came from."**

Poppy kept reading on, **"Armed with a wooden stake, martial arts and the will to resist a vampire's mind control, Rashel struggles to avenge her mother's death in **_**The Chosen**_**. Then she meets Quinn, her soulmate, who is part of the world she has vowed to destroy.**

Quinn pulled Rashel closer to him and give her a sweet kiss.

"**Hannah receives notes warning her of incredible danger in **_**Soulmate. **_**But if death is her destiny, is the Lord of the Night World's love strong enough to save her?"**

Poppy set down the blue book and picked up the green one. **"The apocalypse is drawing near. But four Wild Powers can save the world from the impending doom. Circle Daybreak, an underground organization with both Night World and human members, its searching for the four who can stop the darkness**

**A vampire hunter—who is half vampire—stalks her own kind to protect humans in **_**Huntress."**_

"Stalk? I did not 'stalk' vampires." Jez said

"Are you sure, 'cause I think you stalked me." Morgead said, that owned him a hard slap on the head

"Stop interrupting me." Poppy said

"Then read." Ash said his face in the crook of Mare's neck

"I'm trying to." She glared at him "**In **_**Black Dawn**_**, Maggie stumbles upon an old Night World kingdom where the ruling vampire prince is both an enemy and an ally.**

**And Circle Daybreak hires Keller, a shapeshifter panther, to guard a new Wild Power in **_**Witchlight**_**. But when Keller falls in love with Wild Power's soulmate, her love could destroy everything…"**

Iliana smiled at Keller, she would do anything for her blood sister.

Poppy picked up the red book and started reading, "**In**_** Secret Vampire**_**, Poppy thought the summer would last forever. Then she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Now Poppy's only hope for survival is James, her friend and secret love. A vampire in the Night World, James can make Poppy immortal. But first they both must risk everything to go against the laws of the Night World."**

Poppy laughed, "Jamie and I have the longest summary." Then she stucked out her tongue.

"**Fugitives from the Night World, three vampire sisters leave their isolated home to live among humans in **_**Daughters of Darkness**_**."**

Rowan, Kestrel, and Jade all looked at each other.

"**Their brother, Ash, is sent to bring the girls back, but he falls in love with their beautiful friend.**

_You are more than beautiful._ Ash sent through the silver cord

"**Two witch cousins fight over their high school crush. It's a battle between black magic and white magic in **_**Spellbinder**_**."**

Poppy set the books down, "Now who story should we read first?"

Every couple said someone elses. "I vote to Rashel's and Quinn's story." Poppy said

Everyone else agreed since they didn't want to read their own except for the named couple.

"Then it's settle we are going to read _**The Chosen"**_

_So that is the first chapter next one should be posted in a couple of hours._


	2. Chapter 2

_Here is chapter two and thanks for the reviews_

_~VampireLuver23_

Poppy turned to page 215, "Who wants to read?"

"I will." Said Lady Hannah

"Okay," Poppy passed the book and Hannah started reading.

"**It happened at Rashel's birthday party, the day she turned five years old.**

"That is kind of cryptic." Morgead said

"**Can we go in the tubes?" She was having her birthday at a carnival and it hit the biggest climbing structure of tubes and slides she had ever seen.**

"Rashel the Cat played on playgrounds when she was a kid?" Ash asked taking his head from Mare's shoulder

"Yeah I was five." Rashel said

"Don't worry Rashel we have pictures of Ash playing with us on them and playing dress up." Rowan said

"Hey I was forced to."

"No you weren't" Jade said

Everyone laughed saying they wanted to the pictures.

"**Her mother smiled. "Okay, kitten, but take care of Timmy. He's not as fast as you are."**

Quinn frowned, "That little demon child." He looked around "Where is he?"

Unknown to them the little demon child was planning for revenge on Quinn, Ash, Morgead, and Delos.

"**They were the last words her mother ever said to her.**

**Rashel didn't have to be told, though. She always took care of Timmy: he was a whole month younger than she was.**

"A month that is a lot." Ash said sarcastically

"Shut up, to any child that is a long time." A couple people nodded their heads

"**and he wasn't even going to be in kindergarten next year."**

Ash was about to open his mouth when Mare hit him on the side of his head.

"**He had silky black hair, blue eyes, and a very sweet smile.**

"Demonic smile." Delos muttered where his head was in Maggie's lap

"**Rashel had dark hair, too, but her eyes were green—green as emeralds, Mommy always said. Green as a cat's**

"**As they climbed through the tubes she kepy glancing back at him, and when they got to a long row of vinyl-padded stairs—slippery and easy to slide off of—she held out a hand to help him up.**

"You should have just let the demon child fall off." Delos said much to the girl's annoyance.

"He is not a demon he is a sweet little boy." Maggie said looking down at him.

"**Timmy beamed at her, his tilted blue eyes shining with adoration. When they had both crawled to the top of the stairs, Rashel let go of his hand.**

"You're such a good big sister." Hannah said one hand holding Theirry's and the other holding the book.

Rashel thanked her then climbed on Quinn's lap and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"**She was heading toward the spiderweb, a big room made entirely of rope and net. Every so often she glanced through a fish-bowl window in one of the tubes and saw her mother waving at her from below. But the another mother came to talk to hers and Rashel stopped looking out.**

Jade and Iliana agreed no mom could wave and talk at the same time.

"**Parents never seemed to b able to talk and wave at the same time.**

"**She concentrated on getting through the tubes, which smelled like plastic with ah hint of old socks. She pretended she was a rabbit in a tunnel.**

"I still can't believe that the greatest vampire hunter of all had a childhood." Said Morgead

A couple agreed they all thinking that she was raised in a family of vampire hunters. But they didn't know the dread of her story.

"**And she kept an eye on Timmy—until they got to the base of the spiderweb.**

**It was far in the back of the climbing structure. There were no other kids around, big or little, and almost no noise.**

"That sounds creepy like something bad is about to happen." Thea said leaning against Eric.

Rashel closed her eyes she didn't want to relieve the memory of her mother's death.

"**A white rope with knots at regular intervals stretched above Rashel, higher and higher, leading to the web itself.**

"**Okay, you stay here, and I'll go up and see how you do it," she said to Timmy. This was a sort of fib. The truth was that she didn't think Timmy could make it, an if she waited for him, neither of them would get up."**

Just as Hannah was reading that Timmy walked in, "Thanks for thinking highly of me." He said in his cute little boy voice.

"Awwe Timmy I'm sorry." Rashel got up and hugged him, while Timmy glared at Quinn.

"**No, I don't want you to go without me," Timmy said. There was a touch of anxiety in his voice.**

That made all the girls aww.

"**It's only going to take a second," Rashel said. She knew what he was afraid of, and she added, "No big kids are going to come and push you."**

That made Ash, Quinn, Morgead, and Delos all laugh and made their soulmates walk out to Timmy and sit by him.

Keller to got up and walked over to her brother and sister.

"**Timmy still looked doubtful. Rashel said thoughtfully, "Don't you want ice cream cake when we get back to my house?"**

**It wasn't even a veiled threat. Timmy looked confused, then sighed heavily and nodded. "Okay. I'll wait."**

**And those were the last words Rashel heard **_**him**_** say.**

Rashel closed her eyes she knew she shouldn't have left him and then her mother wouldn't be dead and Timmy wouldn't be a vampire.

A voice rung through her head, but you would have never have met Quinn.

**She climbed the rope. It was even harder than she'd thought it would be, but when she got to the top it was wonderful. The whole world was a squiggly moving mass of netting. She had to hang on with both hands to keep her balance and try to curl her feet around the rough quivering lengths of cable. She could feel the air and sunlight. She laughed with exhilaration and bounced, looking at the colored plastic tubes all around her. **

**When she looked down for Timmy, he was gone.**

"Oh, no. Timmy gone." Ash muttered, "Mare come sit with me."

"No Ash not until you learn that Timmy isn't a demon child."

"But he is."

"Looks like I'll never sit with again."

**Rashel's stomach tensed. He had to be there. He'd promised to wait.**

"He didn't really promise." David said

"Yeah he did." Jill said

"But—Nevermind." David knew better than to argue with Gillian

**But he wasn't. She could see the entire padded room below the spiderweb from here, and it was empty.**

**Okay, he must have gone back through the tubes. Rashel made her way, staggering and swaying, from one handhold to another until she got to the rope. Then she climbed down quickly and stuck her head in a tube, blinking in the dimness.**

"**'Timmy?" Her voice was a muffled echo. There was no answer and what she could see of the tube was empty. ''Timmy!"**

_Oh no the big kids got him. _Eric thought

Jade looked scared, what if something bad happen to him.

**Rashel was getting a very bad feeling in her stomach. In her head, she kept hearing her mother say, **_**Take care of Timmy**_**. But she hadn't taken care of him. **

"But you did take care of him." Jade said

**And he could be anywhere by now, lost in the giant structure, maybe crying, maybe getting shoved by big kids. Maybe even going to tell her mother.**

**That was when she saw the gap in the padded room.**

**It was just big enough for a four-year old or a very slim five-year old to get through. A space between two cushiony walls that led to the outside . **

Rashel would do anything for the people she loved.

**And Rashel knew immediately that it was where Timmy had gone. It was like him to take the quickest way out. He was probably on his way to her mother right now.**

**Rashel was a very slim five- year old. She wiggled through the gap, only sticking once. Then she was outside, breathless in the dusty shade.**

**She was about to head toward the front of the climbing structure when she noticed the tent flap fluttering.**

Now every had a bad feeling.

**The tent was made of shiny vinyl and it's red and yellow stripes were much brighter than the plastic tubes. The loose flap moved in the bree**z**e and Rashel saw that anyone could just lift it and walk inside.**

**Timmy wouldn't have gone in there, she thought. It wouldn't be like him at all. But somehow Rashel had an odd feeling. **

**She stared at the flap, hesitating, smelling dust and popcorn in the air. I'm brave, she told, and sidled forward.**

"Popcorn." Poppy said "Now I want popcorn. Jamie can you make me some?"

James did what Poppy asked him to do and came back out with a bowl of popcorn. "Thank Jamie." Then gave him a kiss on the check.

**She pushed on the tent beside the flap to widen the gap, and she stretched her neck and peered inside.**

**It was too dark to see anything, but the smell of popcorn was stronger. Rashel moved farther and farther until she was actually in the tent. And then her eyes adjusted and she reali**z**ed she wasn't alone.**

**There was a tall man in the tent. He was wearing a long light-colored trench coat,even though it was warm outside. He didn't seem to notice Rashel because he had something in his arms, and his head was bent down to it, and he was doing something to it.**

Rashel narrowed her eyes. Wishing that Hunter was dead.

**And then Rashel saw what he was doing and she knew that the grown-ups had lied when they said ogres and monsters and the things in fairy-tale books weren't real.**

**Because the tall man had Timmy and he was eating him.**

"That is the end, who wants to read next?" Hannah asked setting the book down on the coffee table.

_So write a review on how you liked the more reviews the faster I update._


	3. Chapter 3

_Yay! Thanks for all the reviews so here is the next chapter_

_~Vampireluver23_

"Anyone?" Hannah asked looking around, "Fine I'll just choose someone." Her eyes landed on Ash

"Why me?" He whined picking up the book from the coffee table

No one bother answering through they hoped if he was reading then he wouldn't make stupid comments.

**Eating him or doing something with his teeth. Tearing and sucking. Making noises like Pal did when he ate his dog food.**

"You had a dog?" Jade asked and when Rashel nodded she looked sad, "I always wanted a dog but I have Tiggy." She said pet Tiggy who was in her arms

**For moment Rashel was fro**z**en. The whole world had changed and everything looked like a dream.**

Rashel closed her eyes and when she opened them she had found that she crawled into Quinn's arms.

**Then she heard somebody screaming and her throat hurt and she knew it was her.**

**And then the tall man **_**looked**_** at her.**

**He lifted his head and looked. And she knew that his face alone was going to give her nightmares forever.**

**Not that he was ugly. But he had hair as red as blood and eyes that shone gold, like an animal's. There was a light in them that was like nothing she had ever seen.**

**She ran then. It was wrong to leave Timmy, but she was too scared to stay.**

"I think anyone would be afraid of a man who looked like that and was a vampire." Said Thea and to her surprise some of the vampires were agreeing

**She wasn't brave; she was a baby, but she couldn't help it. She was still screaming as she turned around and darted through the flap in the tent.**

_**Almost**_** darted through. Her head and shoulders got outside and she saw the red plastic tubes rising above her – and then a hand clamped on the back Gymboree shirt. A big strong hand that stopped her in midflight. Rashel was as helpless as a baby kitten against it.**

Rashel smiled after that she was never a helpless kitten.

**But just as she was dragged back into the tent she saw something. **_**Her mother.**_** Her mother was coming around the corner of the climbing structure. She'd hear Rashel screaming.**

**Her mother's eyes were big and her mouth was open and she was moving fast. She was coming to save Rashel.**

"**Momeeeeeeeeeeeee!" Rashel screamed and then she was back inside the tent. **

Keller—who like all sisters know when something was wrong with them walked to her and held her hand.

**The man threw her to one side the way a kid at preschool would throw a piece of crumbled paper. Rashel landed hard and felt a pain in her leg that normally would had make her cry. Now she hardly noticed it. She was staring at Timmy, who was lying on the ground near her.**

**Timmy looked strange. His body was like a rag doll's— arms and legs flopped out. His skin was white. His eyes were staring straight up at the tent.**

**There were two big holes in his throat, with blood all around them.**

Timmy looked to the side. He never did remember why he left where he was suppose to wait with Rashel.

**Rashel whimpered. She was too frightened to scream anymore. But just then she white daylight, and a figure in front of it. Mommy. Mommy was pulling the tent flap open. Mommy was inside, looking around for Rashel.**

**That was when the worst thing happen. The worst and the strangest, the thing the police never believed when Rashel told them later.**

Rashel bite her lip.

**Rashel saw her mother's mouth open, saw her mother looking at her, about to say something. And then she hears a voice— but it wasn't Mommy's voice.**

**And it wasn't an out-loud voice. It was inside her head.**

_**Wait! There's nothing wrong here. But you need to stand very, very still.**_

Rashel pulled her face into Quinn's chest.

**Rashel looked at the tall man. His mouth wasn't moving but the voice was his. Her mother was looking at him, too, and her expression was changing, become relaxed and... stupid**_**.**_

"Stupid?" Ash asked dropping the book on the ground.

"Yeah stupid and that is what you are." Rashel said but it came out a little muffled since her face was still press against Quinn's chest.

"Hey I am not stupid. Mare am I stupid?"

"Ash, honey, just keep reading."

"I'm surprise he even can." Keller said.

"Hey I heard that."

**Mommy was standing very, very still.**

**Then the tall man hit Mommy once on the side of the neck and she fell over head flopped the wrong way like a broken doll. Her dark hair was lying in the dirt.**

**Rashel saw that and then everything was even more like a dream. Her mother was dead. Timmy was dead.**

Keller felt anger for Hunter who killed her and Rashel's mother. And sad for not knowing her but still reading on how she died.

Delos looked up, "Timmy dead? Let's have a party." That cause Maggie to throw her shoe at him.

**And the man was looking at her.**

_**You're not upset, **_**came the voice in her head.**_** You're not frightened. You want to come right here. **_

**Rashel could feel the pull of the voice. It was drawing here closer and closer. It was making her still and not afraid, making her forget her mother. But then she saw the tall man's golden eyes and they were hungry. And all of a sudden she remembered what he wanted to do to her.**

"Ash!"

"Sorry." Ash was reading faster and faster till he got to the end of the paragraph.

**Not me!**

**She jerked away from the voice from the voice and dove for the tent flap again.**

**This time she got all the way outside. And she threw herself straight at the gap in the climbing structure.**

**She was thinking in a different way than she had never thought before. The Rashel that had watched her Mommy fall was locked away in a little room inside her, crying. It was a new Rashel who wiggled desperately through the gap in the padded room, a smart Rashel who knew that there was no point in crying because there was nobody who cared anymore. **

_I care. _Quinn's voice came through the link

_I know you do. I love you._

_Love you too._

**Mommy couldn't save her, so she had to save herself. She felt a hand grab her ankle, hard enough almost to crush her bones. It yanked, trying to drag her back through the gap. Rashel kicked backward with all her strength and then twisted and her sock came off and she pulled her leg into the padded room.**

_**You need to come back! You need to come back right now!**_

**The voice was like a teacher's voice. It was hard not to listen. **

"Is that a joke?" Ash said

"No some people actually when they were kids listen to the teacher." Rashel said un pressing her face to Quinn's chest and leaning her head against it.

**But Rashel was scrambling into the plastic tube in front of her. She went faster than she ever had before, hurting her knees, propelling herself with bare foot.**

**When she got to the first fish-bowl window, though, she saw a face looking in at her.**

"Stalker." Said Morgead

"Shut up Morgy."

"You Jezebel."

"I told you not to call me that idiot." She said

"I'm not an idiot, idiot."

**It was the tall man. He was staring at her**. **He banged on the plastic as she went by.**

"Who bangs on plastic?" Eric asked

"Obviously he does." Quinn answered

**Fear cracked in Rashel like a belt. She scrambled faster, and the knocks the tubes followed her. **

**He was underneath her now. Keeping up with her. Rashel passed another window and looked down. She could see his hair shining in the sunlight. She could see his pale face looking up at her.**__

**And his eyes.**

_**Come down, **_**came the voice and it wasn't stern anymore. It was sweet.**_** Come down and we'll go get some ice cream. What kind of ice cream do you like best?**_

Iliana looked she was thinking about her favorite ice cream.

**Rashel knew then that this is how he gotten Timmy into the tent. She didn't even pause in her scrambling. But she couldn't get away from him. He was traveling with her, just under her, waiting for her to come out or to get a place where he could reach in and grab her.**

**Higher. I need to get higher, she thought.**

**She moved instinctively, as if some sixth sense was telling her which way to turn each time she had a choice. **

Rashel smiled and thought that it might be the half-shape shifter she was in her telling her where to go.

**She went through angled tubes, straight tubes that weren't solid at all, but made of woven canvas strips. And finally she got to a place where she couldn't go any higher. It was a square room with padded floor and netting sides. She was at the front of the climbing structure; she could see mothers and fathers standing and sitting in little groups. She could feel the wind. Below her, looking up, was the tall man.**

_**Chocolate brownie? Mint chip? Bubble gum?**_

**The voice was putting pictures in her mind. Tastes. Rashel looked around frantically.**

**There was so much noise—every kid in the climbing structure was yelling. Who would even notice her if she shouted? They'd think she was joking around.**

_**All you have to do is come down. You know you have to come down sometime.**_

**Rashel looked into the pale face turned up to her. The eyes were like dark holes. Hungry. Patient. Certain.**

**He knew he was going to get her.**

_But he never did._ She thought

**He was going to win. She had no way to fight him.**

Hannah held her breathe.

**And then something tore inside Rashel and she did the only thing a five year old could do against an adult.**

"And that would be…" Morgead said

"I don't know why don't you ask Timmy-oh no you can't he's only four not five." Ash responded

"Mare, do you need to borrow a stake." Rashel said

"Or a fighting stick?" Jez added

"I might in a minute if he keeps making comments about Timmy." Mare said hugging Timmy and glaring at Ash.

Ash took that as a cue to keep reading.

**She shoved her hand between the rough cords that made the netting, scraping off skin. She pushed her whole small arm through and she pointed down at the tall man. **

**And she screamed in a way she'd never screamed before. Piercing shrieks that cut through the happy noise of the other kids. She screamed the way Ms. Bruce at preschool had taught her to do if any stranger ever bothered her.**

"**Help meeeee! Help meeee! That man tried to touch me!" She kept screaming it, keep pointing it. And she saw people look at her.**

"Now that made him sound like a molester." Jez said laying atop of Morgead.

"Well it worked."

**But they didn't do anything. They just stared. Lots of faces, looking up at her. Nobody moving.**

**In a way, it was even worse than anything that had happened before. They could hear her, but nobody was going to help her. **

**And then she saw somebody moving.**

**It was a big boy, not quite grown-up man. He was wearing a uniform like the one Rashel's father used to wear before he died. That meant he was a Marine.**

Keller smiled a sad little smiled wishing she met her shape-shifter dad.

**He was going towards the tall man, and his face was dark and angry. And now, as if they had only needed this example, other people were moving, too. Several men who looked like fathers. A woman with a cellular phone.**

**The tall man turned and ran.**

**He ducked under the climbing structure, heading toward the back, toward the tent where Rashel's mother was. He moved very fast, much faster than any of the people in the crowd.**

**But he sent words to Rashel's mind before he disappeared completely.**

_**See you later.**_

Rashel shivered at that. He indeed did see her later.

**When he was definitely gone, Rashel slumped against the netting, feeling the rough cord bite into her cheek. People down below were calling to her; kids just behind her were whispering. None of it really mattered.**

**She could cry now; it would be okay, but she didn't seem to have any tears.**

"And that is why Rashel the Cat had no sympathy of vampires." Galen said moving over to where Keller was.

**The police was no good. There were two officers, a man and a woman. The woman believed Rashel a little. But every time her eyes would start to believe, she'd shake her head and say, "But what was the man **_**really**_** doing to Timmy? Baby-doll, sweetie, I know It's awful, but just **_**try**_** to remember" **

**The man didn't believe even a little. Rashel would have traded them both for the Marine back at the carnival.**

**All they'd found in the tent was her mother with a broken neck. No Timmy. Rashel wasn't sure but she thought the man had probably taken him. She didn't want to think about why. Eventually the police drove her to her Aunt Corinne's, who was the only family she had left now.**

Rashel sighed; she had no family left now. But then she remembered that she had Keller and smiled at her.

**Aunt Corrine was old and her bony hands hurt Rashel's arms when she clutched her and cried. She put Rashel in a bedroom full of strange smells and tried to give her medicine to make her sleep. It was like cough syrup, but it made her tongue numb. Rashel waited until Aunt Corinne was gone, she spat it into her hand and wiped her hand on the sheets, way down at the foot of the bed where the blankets tucked in.**

"Didn't anyone ever tell you take your medicine?" Quinn said

"Yeah, but I'm glad I didn't."

**And then she put her arms around her hunched-up knees and sat staring into the darkness. **

**She was too little, too helpless. That was the problem. She wasn't going to be able to do anything against him when he came back. **

**Because of course he was coming back.**

**She knew what the man was, even if the adults didn't believe her. He was a vampire, just like on TV. A monster that drank blood. And he knew she knew.**

The non-humans wrinkled their noses. The thought of drinking blood seem odd and disgusting

**That's why he'd promised to see her later.**

**At last, when Aunt Connie's house was quiet, Rashel tiptoed to the closet and slid it open. She climbed the shoe rack and squirmed and kicked until she was on the top shelf above the clothes. It was narrow, but wide enough for her. That was one good thing about being little. **

**She had to use every advantage she had.**

**With her toe, she slid the closet door back shut. Then she piled sweaters and other folded things from the shelf on top of herself, covering even her head. And finally she curled up on the hard bare wood and shut her eyes.**

**Sometime in the night she smelled smoke. She got down from the shelf—falling more than climbing—and saw flames in her bedroom.**

Some people looked surprise that Hunter had found her then thought again of course he found her he's Hunter.

**She never knew exactly how she managed to run through them and get of the house. The whole night was like one long blurred nightmare.**

**Because Aunt Corinne didn't get out. When the fire trucks came with their sirens and their flashing lights, it was already too late.**

**And even though Rashel knew that he had set the fire-the vampire- the police didn't believe her. They didn't understand why he had to kill her.**

**In the morning they took her to a foster home, which would be the first of many. The people there were nice, but Rashel wouldn't let them hold her or comfort her. She already knew what she had to do.**

**If she was going to survive, she had to make herself hard and strong. She couldn't care about anybody else, or trust anybody, or rely on anybody. Nobody could protect her. Not even Mommy had been able to do that.**

**She had to protect herself. She had to learn to fight.**

There was a long moment of silence before anyone spoke.

"How wants to read next?" Ash asked slowly.

Rashel looked up and took the book. Nothing could be that bad after those first two chapters.

_So I finished. Thanks again for all the reviews. This chapter was really hard to write. So I'm aiming to get to 20 to 25 reviews for the next chapter_


	4. Chapter 4 Part 1

_Thanks for all the great reviews. Okay let me start off and say that this is only half of the chapter I have written. Um I've been really busy and I'll tell you what I have to say at the end of the chapter. You guys have waited a long time for this._

_~VampireLuver23_

* * *

><p>Rashel grabbed the book and flipped the page to Chapter 3.<p>

"**God it **_**stank.**_

"That is one way to start a new chapter." Quinn said.

"Yeah, but what stunk?" asked Delos. Maggie had finally forgave (and missed him even though he was less 3 feet away) Delos and sat next to him.

"**Rashel Jordan had seen a lot of vampire lairs in her seventeen years, but this was probably the most disgusting. She held her breath as she stirred the nest of tattered cloth with the toe of one boot.**

"You know, can't you vampires I don't know clean the place where you live. It makes it so much easier for vampire hunters." Rashel said

"Yeah well most vampires don't care about how a place smells." Kestral said looking at her nails, "Through it helps alert if a vampire hunter is near because they gag."

"**She could tell the story of this collection of garbage as easily as if the inhabitant had written out a full confession, signed it, and posted it on the wall.**

**One vampire. A rouge, an outcast who lived on the fringe of both human world and the Night World. He probably moved to a new city every few weeks to avoid getting caught. And he undoubtedly looked like any other homeless guy, except that none of the homeless would be hanging around a Boston dock on a Tuesday night in early March.**

"And that is why you were one of the greatest vampire hunters." Delos said.

Rashel raised an eyebrow, "Were?"

"Still are." He said looking at her boots; she most likely had a couple stakes in there.

"**He brings his victims here, Rashel thought. The pier's deserted. It's private, he can take his time with them. And of course he can't resist keeping a few trophies.**

**Her foot stirred gently. A pink-and-blue knit baby jacket.**

There was a gasp from Iliana, Hannah and Mare.

"**A plaid sash from a school uniform, a Spiderman tennis shoe. All bloodstained. All very small.**

**There had been a rash of missing children lately. **

And again there was a gasp from the three before. And Hannah hid her head in Thierry's chest as he rubbed her head.

**The Boston police would never discover where they had gone—but now Rashel knew. She felt her lips draw back slightly from her teeth in something that wasn't really a smile.**

**She was aware of everything around her: the soft plash of water against the wooden pier, the rank coppery smell that was almost a taste, the darkness of a night lit only by a half moon. Even the light moisture of the cold breeze against her skin.**

"You are almost like a vampire." Rowan said.

"**She was aware of all of it without being preoccupied with any of it—and when the tiny scratch sounded behind her, she moved as smoothly and gracefully as if she were taking her turn in a dance.**

"Action, yes!" Yelled Eric. He had always wondered how Rashel had killed so may Night Worlders.

**She pivoted on her left foot, drawing her **_**bokken**_** in the same motion, and without a break in the movement, she stabbed straight to the vampire's chest.**

_That's my girl._ Quinn said through the bond and pulling her closer to him.

**She drove the blow from her hips, exhaling in a hiss as she did it, putting all her strength behind it.**

"**Gotta be faster than that," she said.**

**The vampire, skewered like a hot dog, waved his arms and gibbered. He was dressed in filthy clothing and his hair was a bushy tangle. His eyes were wide, full of surprise and hatred, shining as silver as an animal's in the faint light. His teeth weren't so much as fangs as tusks: fully extended, they reached almost to his chin.**

All the vampires wrinkled their noses their fangs were their way of surviving, if your fangs broke you were as good as dead. Keeping them well kept was always good.

"**I know," Rashel said. "You really, really wanted to kill me. Life's tough, isn't it."**

**The vampire snarled one more time and then the silver went out of his eyes, leaving only the look of astonishment. His body stiffened and slumped backward. It lay still on the ground.**

The humans looked surprise. She did that in less than a minute. No wonder she is such a great vampire hunter.

It's kind of weird reading about what you did, Rashel thought. She smiled hoping that the next couple of chapters were where she met Quinn.

Quinn who heard her thoughts gave her a kiss.

**Grimacing, Rashel pulled her wooden sword out of the chest. She started to wipe the blade on the vampire's pants, then hesitated, peering at them more closely. Yes, those were definitely little crawly things. And the blankets were just as repulsive. **

Then girls looked gross out. How could someone sleep with bugs?

**Oh, well. Use your own jeans. It won't be the first time.**

**She carefully wiped the **_**bokken **_**clean. It was two and half feet long and just slightly gracefully curved, with a narrow, sharp, angled tip. Designed to penetrate a body as efficiently as possible—if that body was susceptible to wood.**

**The sword slipped back into its sheath with a papery whisper. Then Rashel glanced at the body again.**

**Mr. Vampire was already going mummified. His skin was now yellow and tough:**

The description made all vampires shuddered. Inhumanly beautiful when alive, but ugly in death.

**His staring eyes were dried up, his lips shrunken, his tusk collapsed.**

Now everybody shuddered.

**Rashel bent over him, reaching into her back packet. What she pulled out looked like a the snapped-off end of a bamboo backscratcher—which was exactly what it was. She'd had it for years.**

**Very precisely, Rashel drew the five lacquered fingers of the scratcher down the vampire's forehead.**

"That's how you did it?" Ash asked

"Yepp."

"I just thought you would take your stake a draw on them."

**On the yellow skin five brown marks appeared, like the marks of a cat's claws. Vampire skin was easy to mark right after death.**

"**This kitten has claws," she muttered. It was a ritual sentence; she'd repeated it ever since the night she'd killed her first vampire at the age of twelve.**

"Twelve?" asked Delos

"You heard it right; I was twelve when I first killed a vampire." Rashel said smiling

"Remind me never to get on your bad side."

**In memory of her mother, who'd always called her kitten. In memory of herself at age five, and all the innocence she'd lost. She'd never be a helpless kitten again.**

**Besides, it was little joke. Vampires…bats. Herself … a cat. Anybody who'd grown up with Batman and Catwoman would get it.**

**Well. All Done. Whistling softly, she rolled the body over and over with her foot to the end of the pier. She didn't feel like carting the mummy all the way out to the fens, the salt marches where bodies were traditionally left in Boston.**

Some people wrinkled up their noses at the bodies being left by the salt marches.

**With a mental apology to everybody who was trying to clean up the harbor, she gave the corpse a final push and listened for the splash.**

"I feel bad for the people who'd found that body." Hannah said

"They most likely probably think it wasn't real." Thierry said in her ear causing her to shiver.

**She was still whistling as she emerged from the pier onto the street. **_**Hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to work we go….**_

_There is something wrong with you,_ Quinn teased through the bond

Rashel smiled and kept reading.

**She was in a very good mood.**

**The only disappointment was the constant one, that it hadn't been **_**the**_** vampire, the one she'd been looking for ever since she'd been five years old. It had been a rogue,**

Quinn chuckled thinking how far she actually was of who he had been.

**All right—a depraved monster who killed human kids foolishly close to human habitations. But it hadn't been **_**the **_**rogue.**

**Rashel would never forget **_**his**_** face. And she knew that someday she would see it again. Maenwhile, there was nothing to do but shish-kebab as many of the parasites as possible.**

Delos looked up at Maggie, "Maggie, what's a shish-kebab?"

"I'll explain later." Maggie said no matter how much she loved him, she was a tired of people making fun of him for not knowing things.

**She scanned the streets as she walked, alert for any sign of Night Peopl. All she saw were quiet brick buildings and streetlights shining pale gold.**

**And that was a shame, because she was in terrific form tonight; she could feel it. She was every bloodsucking leech's worst enemy. She could stake six of them before breakfast and still be fresh for chemistry first period at Wassaguscus High.**

Quinn raised an eyebrow it almost sounded like she was bragging. He tighten his arms around her never wanting to let her go.

**Rashel stopped suddenly, absentmindedly melting** **into a shadow as a police car cruised silently down rhe cross-street ahead. **_**I**_** know, she thought. I'll go see what the Lancers are up to. If anybody knows where vampires are, they do.**

The couple smiled thinking about how they first met.

**She headed for the North End. Half an hour later she was standing in front of a brownstone apartment building, ringing the buzzer.**

"**Who's there?"**

**Instead of answering, Rashel said, "The night has a thousand eyes."**

"**And the day only one," came the reply from the intercom.**

Ash looked look confused; almost everyone had figured out the meaning but him, "I don't get it."

"The night has thousands of stars, and the day only has the sun." Rashel explained though Ash still looked confused.

"**Hey there, girl. Come on up."**

**Inside, Rashel climbed a dark and narrow stairway to a scarred wooden door. There was a peephole in the door. Rashel faced it squarely, then pulled off the scarf she'd been wearing. It was black, silky, and very long. She wore it wrapped around her head and face like a veil, so only her eyes showed, and even they were in shadow.**

**She shook out her hair, knowing what the person on the other side could see. A tall girl dressed like a ninja,**

"Ninja!" Poppy yelled she loved Ninjas and the game of course.

**all in black, with black hair falling loose around her shoulders and green eyes blazing. She hadn't changed much since she was five, except in height. Right now she made a barbaric face at the peephole and heard the sound of laughter behind the door as bolts were drawn.**

**She waited until the door was shut behind her again before she said, "Hi, Elliot."**

**Elliot was a few years older than she was, and thin, with intense eyes and little shiny glasses that were always slipping off his nose. **

_What a nerd,_ David thought holding Jill's hand

**Some people would have dismissed him as a geek. But Rashel had once seen him stand up to two werewolves while she got a human girl out a window, and she knew that he had practically singlehandedly started the Lancers—one of the most successful organizations of vampire hunters on the East Coast.**

"**What's up, Rashel? It's been a while."**

"**I've been busy. But now I'm bored. I came to see if guys had anything going." **

"Is that the only reason you went and saw them?" Krestal asked

"Pretty much, yeah."

**As Rashel spoke, she was looking at the other people in the room: A brown-haired girl was kneeling, loading objects from boxes into a dark green backpack. Another girl and boy were sitting on the couch. Rashel recognized the boy from other Lancers meeting, neither of the girls were familiar.**

"**Lucky you," Elliot said. "This is Vicky, my new second-in-command." He nodded to the girl on the floor. "She just moved to Boston; she was the leader of a group on the south shore. And tonight she's taking a little expedition out to some warehouses in Mission Hill. We got a lead that there's been some activity out there."**

"**What kind of activity? Leeches, puppies?"**

Just then Lupe walked by when Rashel said puppies and just shook her head and kept walking on.

**Elliot shrugged. "Vampires definitely. Werewolves maybe. There's been a rumor about teenage girls getting kidnapped and stashed somewhere out there. The problem is we don't know exactly where, or why." He tilted his head, his eyes twinkling. "You want to go?"**

"**Isn't anybody going to ask me?" Vicky said, straightening up from her backpack. Her pale blue eyes were fixed on Rashel. **

"Obviously not." Ash said

"**I've never even seen this girl before. She could be one of **_**them**_**."**

The vampires started to laugh. Just thinking about Rashel being a vampire was such a silly thought.

**Elliot pushed his glasses higher on his nose. He looked amused. "You wouldn't say that if you knew, Vicky. Rashel's the best."**

"**At what."**

"**At everything. When you were going to your fancy prep school, she was out in Chicago slums staking vampires.**

"Burned." Eric and David said together.

"Who says that anymore?" Morgead asked pulling Jez closer to him if that were even possible.

**She's been in L.A., New York, New Orleans… even Vegas. She's wiped out more parasites than the rest of us put together." Elliot glanced mischievously at Rashel, then leaned toward Vicki.**

"**Ever heard of The Cat?" he said**

**Vicki's head snapped up. She stared at Rashel. "The Cat? The one all the Night People are afraid of? The one they're offering a reward for? The one who leaves a mark—"**

_Not _all _the Night People are afraid of you,_ Quinn said

**Rashel shot Elliot a warning look, "Never mind," She said. She wasn't sure she trusted these new people. Vicky was right about one thing: you could never be too careful.**

**And she didn't like Vicky much, but she could hardly turn down such a good opportunity for vampire hunting. Not tonight, when she was in such terrific form. **

"**I'll go with you—if you'll have me." She said.**

**Vicky's pale blue eyes bored into Rashel's a moment, then she nodded. "Just remember I'm in charge."**

"Bitch" Poppy said

"**Sure," Rashel muttered. She could see Elliot's grin out of the corner of her eye.**

"**You know Steve, and that's Nyala." Elliot indicated the boy and girl on the couch. Steve had blond hair, muscular shoulders, and a steady expression. Nyala had skin like cocoa and a faraway look in her eyes, as if she was sleepwalking. "Nyala's new. She just lost her sister a month ago," Elliot added in a gentle voice. He didn't need to say **_**how**_** the sister had been lost.**

**Rashel nodded at the girl. She sympathized. There was nothing quite like the shock of first discovering the Night World, when you realized that things like vampires and witches and werewolves **

"And shapeshifters." Rashel added just for her sister

**were real, and that they were **_**everywhere, **_**joined in one giant secret organization. That anybody could be one, and you'd never know until it was too late.**

"**Everybody ready? Then let's go," Vicky said, and Steve and Nyala got up. Elliot showed them to the door.**

"**Good luck," he said**

**Outside, Vicky led the way to a dark blue car with mud strategically caked on the license plate.**

"**We'll drive to the warehouse area," she said**

**Rashel was relieved. She was used to walking the city streets at night without being seen—important when you were carrying a rather unconcealable sword—but she wasn't sure that these other three could mange. It took practice.**

**The drive was silent except for the murmur of Steve's voice occasionally helping Vicky with directions. They passed through respectable neighborhoods and venerable areas with handsome old buildings until they got to a street where everything changed suddenly. All at once, as if they had crossed some invisible dividing line, the gutters were full of soggy trash and the fences were topped with razor wire. The buildings were government housing projects, dark warehouses, or rowdy bars.**

**Vicky pulled into a parking lot and stopped the car away from the security lights. Then she led them through the knee-high dead weeds of a vacant lot to a street that was poorly lighted and utterly silent.**

"That sounds scary." Jade said hugging Tiggy

"**This is the observation post," Vicky whispered, as they reached a squat brick building, a part of the housing project that had been abandoned. Following her, the zigzagged through debris and scrap metal to get to a side door, and then they climbed a dark staircase covered with graffiti to the third floor. Their flashlights provided the only illuminations.**

"**Nice place," Nyala whispered, looking around. She had obviously never seen anything like it before. "Don't you think—there may be other people here besides vampires?"**

**Steve gave her a reassuring pat. "No, it's okay."**

"**Yeah, it looks like even the junkies have abandoned it," Rashel said, grimly amused.**

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><p><em>Okay so that is all I have done. I'll try and update soon but on to the important things.<em>

_1. I have a poll on my profile vote for which two stories you want next, but I already have the second story chosen so the most votes for the next story will be third. So go vote come back write a review saying that you voted and then you'll get a sneak peak of the next chapter._

_2. My weekly question is starting back up. Next chapter I shall have a question all you have to do is in a review answer the question and get a sneak peak of the next chapter._

_3. The reason I haven't been updating is because I have been in band camp for the last 2 weeks (this week shall be my last) for color guard and they are 9-12 hours long so I've been pretty much pooped out to write or do anything when I come home. _

_4. The most important school is starting back up the 17__th__ so that's why I have all these sneak peeks going on so you have something to hold you over. The first couple of weeks will be slow updating so yeah. But that is all I have to say so I hope you enjoyed this chapter. _

_Go vote and review please. _


	5. Chapter 4 Part 2

"**You can see the whole street from the window," Vicky put in shortly. "Elliot and I were here yesterday watching those warehouses across the street. And last night we saw a guy at the end of the street who looked a lot like a vampire. You know the signs."**

Rashel smiled and Quinn shook his head.

**Nyala opened her mouth as if to say she didn't know the signs, but Rashel was already speaking. "Did you test him?"**

"**We didn't want to get that close. We'll do it tonight if he shows up again."**

"**How do you test them?" Nyala asked**

**Vicky didn't answer. She and Steve had pushed aside a couple of eat-chewed mattresses and were unloading the bags and backpacks they'd brought.**

**Rashel said, "One way is to shine a flashlight in their eyes. Usually you get eyeshine back—like an animal's."**

For the few humans that didn't know that looked creeped out.

"**There are other ways, too," Vicky said, setting the things she was unloading on the bare boaders of the floor. There was ski masks, knives made of both metal and wood, a number of stakes of various sizes, and a mallet. Steve added two clubs made of white oak to the pile.**

Quinn frowned when Rashel read the last sentence in the paragraph.

"**Wood hurts them more than metal," Vicky said to Nyala. "If you cut them with a steel knife they heal right before your eyes—but cut them with wood and they keep bleeding."**

**Being cut with wood is horrible and painful. All the vampires thought.**

**Rashel didn't quite like the way she said it. And she didn't like the last thing Vicky pulling out of the backpack. It was a wooden device that looked a bit like a miniature stock. Two hinged blocks of wood that fit snugly around a person's wrists and closed with a lock.**

Most of the vampires heard about the unfortunate vampire that washed ashore in the south with them on.

"Hey Rashel." Ash said

"What?"

"Sounds like you were sympathizing with 'leeches' back then." Ash said quoting the leeches

"No I wasn't. I just thought that wood handcuffs were cruel and would torture you guys."

"**Vampire handcuffs," Vicky said proudly, seeing her look. "Made of white oak. Guaranteed to hold ****any parasite. I brought them from down south."**

The vampires frowned they all heard about vampires washing up ashore a couple years ago.

**"But hold them for what? And what do you need all those little knives and stakes for? It would take hours to kill a vampire with those."**

**Vicky smiled fiercely. "I know."**

**Oh. Rashel's heart seemed to thump and then sink, and she looked away to control her reaction. She understood what Vicky had in mind now. **

**Torture.**

Jade's eyes widen, who would want to torture anyone. Even if they were vampires it didn't make any difference they are still people too.

**"A quick death's too good for them," Vicky said, still smiling. "They deserve to suffer-the way they make our people suffer. Besides, we might get some information. We need to know where they're keeping the girls they kidnap, and what they're doing with them."**

**"Vicky." Rashel spoke earnestly. "It's practically impossible to make vampires talk. They're stubborn. When they're hurt they just get angry-like animals."**

**Vicky smirked. "I've made some talk. It just depends on what you do, and how long you make it last. Anyway, there's no harm in trying."**

_Yeah there is,_ Hannah thought shaking her head.

**"Does Elliot know about this?"**

**Vicky lifted a shoulder defensively. "Elliot lets me do things my way. I don't have to tell him every little detail. I was a leader myself, you know."**

"In other words, she didn't tell him." Rowan said

**Helplessly, Rashel looked at Nyala and Steve. And saw that for the first time Nyala's eyes had lost their sleepwalking expression. Now she looked awake- and savagely glad.**

**"Yes," she said. "We should try to make the vampire talk. And if he suffers-well, my sister suffered. When I found her, she was almost dead but she could still talk. She told me what it felt like, having all the blood drained out of her body while she was still conscious. She said it hurt. She said . . ." Nyala stopped, swallowed, and looked at Vicky. "I want to help do it," she said thickly.**

"Who would of thought the Nyala wanted actually to help." Quinn said

**Steve didn't say anything, but then from what Rashel knew of him, that was typical. He was a guy of few words. Anyway, he didn't protest.**

**Rashel felt odd, as if she were seeing the very worst of herself reflected in a mirror. It made her ... ashamed. It left her shaken.**

Ash looked as if her was about to bring up the vampire sympathizer conversion again, but Mare stopped him with a look.

**But who am I to judge? She thought, turning away. It's true that the parasites are evil, all of them. The whole race needs to be wiped out. And Vicky's right, why should they have a clean death, when they usually don't give their victims one? Nyala deserves to avenge her sister.**

**"Unless you object or something," Vicky said heavily, and Rashel could feel those pale blue eyes on her. "Unless you're some kind of vampire sympathizer."**

"Yeah right." Rashel said under her breathe.

**Rashel might have laughed at that, but she wasn't in a laughing mood. She took a breath, then said without turning around, "It's your show. I agreed that you were in charge."**

**"Good," Vicky said, and returned to her work.**

**But the sick feeling in the pit of Rashel's stomach didn't go away. She almost hoped that the vampire wouldn't come.**

"You hoped I won't come and meet you?" Quinn whispered in her ear

_Of course not,_ She sent _You are the best thing in my life._

"Who wants to read next?"

* * *

><p><em>So there is the end of the chapter next one should be posted sometime this week. I've been really busy but I'm glad posted this up. Also if you haven't voted on the poll go vote!<em>

_Question of the week!_

_If you had one day to do anything with one of the night world guys who would it be? And what would you do?_

_Until next time_

_~Vampireluver23_


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